Post-finals Rambling

I wrapped up finals week on Thursday with the last two tests. I had not been feeling well for a couple of days but had ignored it. However, I remember sitting in the English final, in the middle the last essay (an analysis of "Where the Wild Things Are") and thinking, Who the hell cares? and having to resist the wild urge to write exactly that down followed by some pointed statements concerning the psychological analysis of children's picture books. Then it occurred to me that I was running a fever and that I should probably resist all natural urges, especially those involving impromptu honesty.

I haven't heard back from the speech professor yet on how I did on my final speech.However, even if he gives me a C on it (and he won't), I'll have an A in the class. Ironically, the speech was over "Training the Family Dog". The PowerPoint had two or three pictures of Solomon in it. However, I used Clancy as a living subject to demonstrate a couple of simple commands and his antics helped. He is a happy little dog with a big heart.

All of my other finals have come back As. The geography surprised me as I expected a B. Typically, on all the other tests, I knew exactly which ones I got wrong when I finished (largely because I had to make educated guesses and this isn't my strong suit). So when I finished this one I knew I'd guessed at about six or seven--all on Southeast Asia, just like I knew I'd gotten all of the ones on Australia correct. Studying Australia was fun, by the way. I just pretended I was visiting all the Aussie bloggers I've run across. Apparently my educated guesses paid off this time. Of the ones I'd guessed at, apparently three of them were correct.

The geography teacher also turned out to be surprise. I missed class last week because of Solomon and had dropped both she and the English teacher a note stating why I was absent. She responded sympathetically, letting me know that she completely understood. We have had two or three email exchanges over the last month or so concerning assignments. She is compassionate and funny, in a very understated way. After the final, she asked me gently how I was doing. I told her that it had been a difficult few days, but I was okay. She then asked about him and I told her what had to be done. She said she was terribly sorry and knew what I was going through. I had to beat a hasty retreat to avoid getting emotional. There was still one more final to go and my English teacher, though polite enough, wasn't as sympathetic (she is a self professed cat person).

I am amazed that I got an A on the English final. While I am inclined to dazzle 'em with BS when I don't know the answer, I don't expect this to hold water with should-be close readers. On at least three occasions I looked at her questions and had no idea how to reply (the information was in there, just jumbled up with all the other junk--kind of like the bottom of my purse at times). So I sort of aimed the pencil at the paper and let nature take its course. Kind of like I do here occasionally, now that I think of it.

My computer instructor told me early in the week that he would miss me, which gave me a good chuckle as it was in response to my pointing out a mistake on the test. "I am sitting here laughing at you," he wrote. "Only you would worry about two points on a test when you've already got 98 in the class. I wish all my students had your drive. I am going to miss you." I will miss him too--he was a great instructor with a terrific sense of humor. I almost wish I was a computer major. However I've looked through the classes Jeremiah is taking (he is a computer major) and stopped when I got to the course description of Electronics 101. There is now one less item on my list of things I want to do when I grow up.

So this week it is on to Christmas lights and stockings and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. It is different here this year, for many reasons (kids older, money tight, etc). But that is a topic for another blog entry. As for now, it's time to catch up on my blog reading.